TED NUGENT: 'Black-On-Black Crime Is Everywhere You Go, Even At The Oscars'

March 28, 2022

Ted Nugent has condemned Will Smith for walking onto the stage at the Oscars Sunday evening and slapped Chris Rock during the live broadcast.

Smith, 53, interrupted the 57-year-old comedian's introduction of "Best Documentary" with a slap across the face. The altercation came after Rock made a joke about Smith's wife Jada Pinkett Smith, saying, "Jada, I love ya. G.I. Jane 2, can't wait to see ya," an apparent reference to the actress's bald hairstyle as she lives with the autoimmune disorder alopecia, which attacks follicles resulting in bald spots and hair loss.

Pinkett Smith could be seen rolling her eyes, before the camera cut back to Rock, while Will Smith initially laughed from his seat. Shortly after, however, Smith's mood changed as he walked up to Rock and struck him across the face with an open hand.

"Oh wow," Rock said as Smith made his way back to his seat.

"Will Smith just smacked the shit out of me," the host said.

"Keep my wife's name out your fucking mouth!" Smith yelled up to the stage at Rock after taking his seat again.

"Wow, dude, it was a G.I. Jane joke," said Rock — to which Smith replied once again, "Keep my wife's name out your fucking mouth!"

Later in the night, Smith won the "Best Actor" award for his starring role in "King Richard". He addressed incident in his acceptance speech by apologizing to the Academy and his fellow actors for the altercation but failing to mention Rock by name.

"I want to apologize to the Academy. I want to apologize to all my fellow nominees," Smith said in part.

He added: "Art imitates life: I look like the crazy father. Just like they said about Richard Williams. But love will make you do crazy things."

Nugent weighed in on the incident during today's (Monday, March 28) edition of "The Nightly Nuge", a news-style clip in which Ted offers his take on the news of our world every night. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Number one, black-on-black crime is quite visible [laughs] — it's everywhere you go, even at the Oscars. We got broadcast globally black-on-black crime.

"Okay, there's a number of dynamics that I would like to address," he continued. "Number one, Chris Rock has had some brilliant moments where he's identified the failure of his culture to respond adequately and properly when pulled over by the police and how to not get killed. So we applaud Chris Rock on those rare moments where logic surfaced in his life.

"With all due respect, I got to hang out at the Comedy Store with Richard Pryor, Rodney Dangerfield, Sam Kinison [and] Robin Williams, so I know that humor is supposed to be irreverent and outrageous. So Chris Rock's whole career is based on outrageous and irreverent. Certainly Will Smith knows that. And there's another time in our culture where if you were disrespectful to my woman that I should be able to coldcock you flat out in the street. Now, I have been attacked, my family, my mother, my wife, my children have been attacked publicly because I 'murder innocent animals,' which I suspect would be considered barbecue in conscientious families' lives. And you know what I do? Because I've been armed since I'm 17, and I trained with the greatest warriors of all time, and when people spit at me, when they attack the honor of my family members, you know what I do? I back away and leave. Because unless there's actual life-threatening conditions, I will not engage.

"So there's a two-edged sword here," Ted added. "Number one, I'm a huge fan of Will Smith and I'm a huge fan of Chris Rock in many ways, when I want a good guffaw or I wanna see a super action actor in a brilliant role, which Will Smith seems to have dominated over the years. But to go ahead and drop your sense of social norms in the clusterbuck [sic] of 2020 and to walk up onstage for the whole world to see and slap Chris RockWill, prioritize. That's not the hill you want to climb right now.

"So, there's all kinds of dynamics, but I thank Will and I thank Chris Rock, because society needs to see that there's an element of our society, most profoundly exposed in the Hollywood world, where your and my rules of engagement don't apply. Because let's go ahead and admit it right now: you and I would have been arrested. If Will Smith would have been a white guy hitting Chris Rock, he would have probably been taken out in handcuffs. But I'm glad that the whole world got to see it.

"But those days of defending the honor of our loved ones, in all practicality, those days are over," Ted said. "Because if you defend the honor of your wife in such a violent manner, you're supposed to go to jail; you're supposed to be charged with assault and battery. That was assault and battery under any jurisdictional definition.

"So it's good that the spoiled brat Hollywood people have so disconnected themselves from the rules of engagement for the rest of society that it's great we got to see it.

"Now my final statement is, as I say we finally get to see it, guess what? Almost nobody saw it, because the Oscars are so stupid and the people involved are so disconnected from society that mom-and-pop America don't watch 'em anymore because pretty much everything about Hollywood is offensive and against the traditional family values that made America great while they condemn those of us that purchase their products. And it's become so laughable.

"So there's a number of dynamics. Number one, I'm glad it happened. Number [two], I didn't see it. Number [three], I'm glad that my friends have shared that with me. But let the world know the emperor has no clothes, and he's a wart-riddled fat pig."

Rock declined to file a police report in connection with the assault, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

"LAPD investigative entities are aware of an incident between two individuals during the Academy Awards program," the LAPD said in a statement, obtained by Variety. "The incident involved one individual slapping another. The individual involved has declined to file a police report.

"If the involved party desires a police report at a later date, LAPD will be available to complete an investigative report," the statement continued.

Earlier today, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences condemned Smith for slapping Rock during the Oscars broadcast, saying that it's reviewing the matter.

"The Academy condemns the actions of Mr. Smith at last night's show," the Academy said in a statement.

"We have officially started a formal review around the incident and will explore further action and consequences in accordance with our bylaws, standards of conduct and California law."

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